Refrigerator-car



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

, J. WHITTAKER.

REFRIGERATOR OAR. No. 423,889 Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

Aieat n PETER? PfMo-Uihngnphcr. Washington. D. c.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. WHITTAK ER. REFRIGERATOR GAR.

Patented Mar, 18, 1890.

l l l. |l llllllll (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN \VHITTAKER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

REFRIGERATOR-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,889, dated March 18, 1890.

Application filed July 22, 1889. Serial No. 318,300. (No model.)

' To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN WHITTAKER, of the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have made a new and useful. Improvement in Refrigerator-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The improvement relates to refrigeratorcars of every description. 7

In order to see plainly the undesirable effect produced by locating freight-openin gs in the side of a car, let us observe the operation of loading a refrigerator-car with carcasses of what is known to the trade as refrigerated dressed beef, from a beef packing and refrigerating house, as refrigerated dressed meat is the article to which this improvement most particularly and advantageously applies. j

The car is run alongside the house from which the meat is to be taken, the doors of the car are opened, and the loading of the car proceeded with. The carcasses are taken from the refrigerator-house, where they have been chilled to a temperature of from 32 to 40 Fahrenheit, and as soon as they come into contact with the atmosphere, which most generally is of a much higher temperature and saturated to a greater or less extent with moisture, the moisture contained in the air is condensed on the cold' meat, which is thereby made quite wet, whereas it is desirable that the meat externally should be kept as dry as possible. The doors in the sides of the car being open during the said loading of the car, the air coming in contact with the cold meat is cooled, deposits its heat and moisture upon the meat, and flows out near the floor through the side door, while other outside warm and moist air flows in to supply the place of that which has passed out, and thus this process of cooling outside air and warming and dampening the beef continues during the loading of the car. During this operation, if the car has been previously cooled preparatory to receiving the meat, the described condensation of the moisture of the atmosphere is not confined to the meat, but the deposit of moisture is made also on the interior of the car-walls. Finally the car is loaded, the doors closed, and the car started on its journey. The refrigerating appliances for a considerable time are kept fully employed in absorbing the moisture which has condensed from the air, as above described, while the car was being loaded. On the route, if it is desired to deliver part of the said carload, the car is opened in the side, as usual, and the meat taken out. During the opera tion the cold air is flowing out of the car and beingreplaced with outside air,which deposits its heat and moisture on the contents and interior walls of the car, as above described. When the car arrives at its destination and the unloading is proceeded with, the doors are again opened and the contents again exposed during the operation of unloading to a current of warm moist air, wi h the results as hereinbefore described. The effects produced by the above-described escape of cold air from the usual openings in the side of a refrigerator-car are mainly a wasteful consumption of ice, injury to freightdressed meat, for instance, by the moisture of condensation thereonand injury to the car by the continued alternate wetting and drying of the interior thereof.

To obviate these difficulties and to provide an improved refrigerator-car is the object of this improvement. I attain this object by constructing a refrigerator-car having a freight opening or hatchway through the roof thereof for the purpose of enabling the loading and unloading of the car through said hatchway in the roof, and thereby dispensing with the necessity of opening cars in'the sides thereof in order to load or unload them. My improvement also relates to appliances fort loading and unloading freight through said hatchways through the roof of a car, all substantially as hereinafter described and claimed, aided by the annexed drawings, in which a desirable form of the improvement is shown, forming part of this specification, of which-- Figure 1 represents a top view or plan of the roof of a refrigerator railroad-car, said car having the herein-described improvement applied thereto. Fig. 2 represents a vertical cross-section of said car on the line 2 2, Fig. 1.

The sameletters of reference applied to the drawings denote the same parts.

A represents the improved refrigeratorcar, which, saving as it is modified or supplemented by the improvement referred to, is of the usual form; 13 B, the side walls; (l, the bottom, and D the roof thereof.

(1 and d are freight-hatchways through the roof. (Z is represented as being open, (1 as being closed by the hatch d (1 is the foot-board laid over the peak of the roof.

E is a crane whereby with suitable tackle to hoist and lower freight, and thereby load and unload the car. It consists, substantially, of a mast e, having an arm 6, and adapted to be stepped in a bearing in or upon the car, so that the mast can be revolved therein and its arm thereby turned to any quarter. To this end the lower portion 6 of the mast can be inserted through the hearing d in the car-roof, and its foot e be held in the step (1 which is located at the bottom of the car, or, if desired, at any other suitable higher point, as at (1 by adapting the length of the lower part of the crane.

thereto. To operate the crane, the blocks and tackle F are attached to the crane-arm c, as shown, and the fall f rove through the snatchblock f and led to the power employed, of whatever kind. The snatch-block may be attached to any suitable point 011 the car or elsewhere, and arranged to suit the application of any suitable power. The crane, as stated, can be revolved at pleasure to enable its arm to overhang the hatchway through the car-roof or a point outside of the car.

The car is loaded and unloaded through its hatchways, and to facilitate the operation the crane E is brought into use.

I11 the operation of loading, the crane-arm e is turned outboard and the hoop f lowered and attached to the article to be loaded. The power is then applied to the fall f, the article hoisted so as to swing clear of the comb of the hatchway, the crane-arm turned inboard, so that the end of the crane-arm and the article hoisted will overhang the hatchway d, and the article lowered through the hatchway into the car. This proceeding is repeated until the car is loaded. To unload the car the above-described movements are reversed.

The crane E may be shifted from one side of the car to the other side, as shown by the crane E in broken lines, in order to work at the other hatchway (1.

Means may be provided for attaching the crane to the outside of the car, as shown by the crane E in broken lines, instead of in the inside of the car.

Side doors are indicated by the lines K K, Fig. 2. Said doors being of the usual construction, no further description is necessary.

The cars herein referred to as refrigeratorcars are understood to be railroad freightcars, the walls, top, and bottom whereof are constructed in part of heat-non-conducting material, whereby the interior of said cars is insulated to a greater or less degree against external heat.

By opening a refrigerator-car through the roof thereof, and not through the side, the car may be opened and freight loaded into or unloaded from it without any outflow of cold air and inflow of warm air, and without consequent condensation of moisture on the freight or on the interior of the walls of a car, and without injury arising therefrom.

Considered with regard to refrigeration alone, the best way to construct a refrigerator-car is to have no openings (excepting those required for the discharge of drip-water and wash-water) through any part of the car but the roof thereof, said openings being for freight and ice. A car constructed in this manner could be rendered more nearly airtight or air-leak proof than if constructed otherwise; but a car so constructed would not always be convenient for loading therein and unloading therefrom freight which might not require a refrigerator-car. For this reason it is better to construct cars with freight-openings in both the sides and roof, and thereby adapt them to carry both freight which requires refrigeration and that which does not.

If desired, any suitable means of ventilation may be adopted; but it is found in practice that the unavoidable leakage of air generally provides ample ventilation.

In the foregoing ice is spoken of as the refrigerating agent; but I do not wish to be confined to ice, as any other suitable agent may be employed in the place of ice without departing from the principles of the improvement.

If the ice-hat-chways of the car are at the ends of the roof, as indicated by the lines at G and G, Fig. 1, the freightrhatches may, if desired, be located adjacent to them, as indicated by the broken lines at H and H, and then the hoisting device may be located at I and I and at each of said points utilized to hoist both freight and ice to their respective hatches.

I claim- 1. The combination, with a refrigeratingcar having a freight-opening in its roof, a vertical bearing in the roof adjacent to said opening and a step on its floor vertically below said bearing, of a crane mounted in said hearing and step, so that it can be readily turned, and suitable lifting-tackle, substantially as described, attached to said crane, as specified.

2. The combination,with the car A,haviug the freight-openings in its roof, the bearings adjacent to the freight-openings, and steps below said bearings on its floor, of the crane mounted in either of said bearings and corresponding step, and having the arm a, the snatch-block f, mounted on the crane, the lifting-blocks, and the rope f, substantially as specified.

\Vitness myhand this 12th day of July, 1889.

JOHN WHITTAKER. \Vitnesses: O. D. MOODY, D. W. C. SANFORD.- 

